Negotiations over federal prisoners

Tamaulipas governor Eugenio Torre Cantú is taking a different tack from his predecessor regarding Friday’s prison break in Nuevo Laredo.

When 151 inmates broke out of the prison last year and Mexican President Felipe Calderón criticized the state, which is a holdout of the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, then-Gov. Eugenio Hernández tried to shift blame for a series of escapes in the state to the federal government. Hernández said overwhelmed state prisons couldn’t handle large numbers of federal prisoners, many of whom are accused of drug trafficking crimes and are tied to cartels. The PRI will be challenging Calderón’s National Action Party for the presidency next year.

Torre Cantú took a more conciliatory approach this week. On the same day federal prosecutors announced they had arrested and were investigation the Nuevo Laredo prison director, Torre Cantú announced he’d been meeting with federal officials to alleviate the problem of federal prisoners in state prisons. It’s not clear how much progress has been made, but in a news release the state said Torre Cantú made “advances” to get newly arrested prisoners taken to federal prisons and dangerous offenders moved from state to federal prison.